Mumbai: Sony Pictures Networks India (SPNI) is not chasing first-mover advantage but is instead focused on building differentiated, high-quality entertainment that can stand apart in an increasingly crowded marketplace, according to Gaurav Banerjee, MD & CEO, SPNI, who addressed a media roundtable while unveiling the company’s festive season content slate.
Responding to a question on whether SPNI was entering the emerging microdrama space later than its competitors, Banerjee said the company was more interested in creating something distinctive than being the first entrant.
“We want to think about what’s unique and interesting that we want to do in any space that we want to enter. That is more important than entering first. We are not in a race to be first as much as we are in the race to be good. To be good means having a very distinctive approach.”
He said the same philosophy underpins SPNI’s festive programming strategy, where the objective is to cut through the clutter by offering differentiated stories while leveraging the company’s ability to create content that can travel seamlessly across television, digital platforms and multiple languages.
The Business Model
Explaining what a scalable business model looks like over the next three years, Banerjee said SPNI increasingly sees itself as a content company rather than a television or digital business. The strategy is to invest in premium intellectual properties and monetise them across platforms instead of viewing television and streaming as separate businesses.
Using Kaun Banega Crorepati as an example, he said the network has actually increased investments in its flagship properties instead of reducing costs.
“Have we chosen to spend less money? No. In fact, we’re spending a lot more to make it bigger and better. The way it gets monetised is across digital and television.”
According to Banerjee, the company’s long-term objective is to become the preferred destination for premium content, allowing successful intellectual properties to generate revenue across multiple screens while maintaining healthy margins.
Festive Season Content Strategy
Reflecting this strategy, SPNI unveiled an expansive festive slate spanning entertainment, sports and regional programming, reinforcing its content-first, platform-agnostic and multilingual approach.
The line-up is headlined by Kaun Banega Crorepati Season 18, returning with the campaign thought ‘Sochna Padega’. The Hindi entertainment portfolio also expands with Rohit Sharma making his entertainment debut with his own show, while Ajay Devgn steps in as the host of Crime Patrol 2026. Comedy enters the festive mix through Indian Game Show, hosted by Bharti Singh and Harssh Limbachiyaa, while Sony LIV will also premiere Scam 2010, directed by Hansal Mehta.
The multilingual strategy forms a significant part of the festive slate. Madhuri Dixit will host Kon Honar Crorepati in Marathi, while Tamil audiences will see MasterChef Tamil featuring Samantha Ruth Prabhu and Tamil Idol, led by A.R. Rahman. Complementing the entertainment slate is Sony Sports Network’s Festival of Sports, featuring the India tour of Sri Lanka, Women’s T20 Asia Cup, Asian Games and India’s all-format tour of New Zealand. Bringing the entire content offering together digitally is Sony LIV’s new brand positioning, ‘It All LIVs Here’.
The Three-Year Outlook
Banerjee remains optimistic about the industry’s long-term prospects, pointing to India’s growing economy and rising consumer spending on premium entertainment.
He believes television will continue to grow alongside digital rather than being displaced by it, while regional markets represent the next major growth opportunity for SPNI.
The company will continue investing in Tamil programming over the next few years before expanding further into Marathi, Bangla and Telugu.
“Tamil is one of the largest languages in the country after English. It’s a huge economy and a massive digital and television market. But it’s not just Tamil. We will also improve and do a lot more programming in Marathi, followed by Bangla and then Telugu.”
Banerjee stressed that regional expansion would not come at the expense of Hindi programming.
“Hindi is our most important market. Hindi is where we built our identity as a network. Whatever we do in any other language, none of it will come at the cost of Hindi.”
Advertising, Subscription and Attention
Banerjee said SPNI expects robust growth from both advertising and subscription revenues, with Sony LIV’s direct-to-consumer business becoming an increasingly important driver of growth.
He also believes the company’s marquee IPs remain resilient during uncertain advertising cycles because brands tend to gravitate towards trusted franchises.
At the heart of Sony LIV’s strategy is audience attention, which he described as the single most important metric for long-term subscriber retention.
“If people like a certain story and want to come back to watch more of it, they become the strongest candidates for retention and subscription renewal. For us, the most important metric remains attention.”
Fiction Pipeline
Rejecting suggestions that fiction has taken a back seat on Sony Entertainment Television, Banerjee said the network has consciously prioritised building its identity around reality formats and crime franchises while carefully developing its next wave of fiction.
“Our next set of fiction shows are actively in development and audiences will see them on air within the next six months,” he said.
Restructuring
Banerjee said the organisational restructuring undertaken after he assumed leadership reflects the evolution of SPNI from a television-led business to an integrated content company where digital is now central to future growth.
The earlier structure treated television as the core business while digital operated independently. The new organisation instead brings together content creation and monetisation across platforms, enabling teams to think beyond individual screens and focus on building stories that travel seamlessly across television and digital.
He said the early results of the restructuring have been encouraging, with greater collaboration already evident in the company’s latest content slate.
The International Scene
International markets remain a strategic priority, particularly among the Indian diaspora in the UK and North America.
Banerjee said SPNI is working on strengthening its distribution and marketing efforts overseas to ensure that its premium content reaches audiences beyond India.
“We know our content connects strongly with premium audiences internationally. We are thinking deeply about how we can improve our marketing and distribution in those markets.”
Defining Success
Asked what would make 2026 a successful year when viewed from 2027, Banerjee said success would ultimately be measured by how far SPNI’s intellectual properties grow in engagement and audience attention.
“Our IPs should have grown in engagement and attention. That growth should happen in India as well as internationally. That is the journey that we’re embarking on.”
